English car maker Aston Martin is teaming with EON Productions to create a line of Goldfinger-inspired DB5s, complete with working James Bond gadgets. The iconic Aston Martin DB5 has made numerous appearances in James Bond movies, including three during the Daniel Craig era, last showing up in 2015’s Spectre.
Of course, the Bond Aston Martin made its first and most famous appearance in the 1964 classic Goldfinger. Among the car’s gadgets then was an ejector seat that Bond memorably used to get rid of a pistol-toting henchman. The car also featured rotating license plates, bullet proofing, machine guns, water canons, an oil slick sprayer and a tire-shredding blade.
Now thanks to Aston Martin, James Bond fans can own their very own DB5, complete with a full array of secret agent gadgets, as reported by EW. A total of 25 of the fully-loaded cars will be produced with each one carrying a reported price tag of $3.5 million. The downside to owning a car equipped with rotating license plates, tire-shredding blades and other defensive features? They’re not actually legal for use on the street (for obvious reasons). Aston Martin CEO Andy Palmer said in a statement:
“The connection between Aston Martin and James Bond is something of which we are very proud and it is remarkable that the DB5 remains the definitive James Bond car after so many years. To own an Aston Martin has long been an aspiration for James Bond fans, but to own a Silver Birch DB5, complete with gadgets and built to the highest standards in the very same factory as the original James Bond cars? Well, that is surely the ultimate collectors’ fantasy.”
Aston Martin will work with Oscar-winning Goldeneye and Spectre special effects supervisor Chris Corbould to ensure the cars’ gadgets are up to specifications that even Q would approve of. The specialized vehicles – all of which will come in Silver Birch, the color of the original Goldfinger car – will be available starting in 2020. In the past, Aston Martin produced only one other fully tricked-out Bond DB5, selling it to collector Harry Yeagg in 2010 for the hefty sum of $4.6 million (at $3.5 million, the new cars are relative bargains). On the other end of the price spectrum, LEGO also offers its own Aston Martin DB5 set.
In addition to its appearance in Goldfinger, the DB5 also showed up at the very beginning of Thunderball, which introduced rear water canons as a new gadget. The car next appeared in On Her Majesty’s Secret Service, the only Bond series appearance for George Lazenby, as Bond and his ill-fated wife Tracy’s wedding car. The DB5 made multiple appearances in the Pierce Brosnan era, most memorably in Goldeneye when it raced a Ferrari. Of course, the Aston Martin also figured into Craig’s debut Bond film Casino Royale, when he won the car (without gadgets) in a poker game. The DB5 received machine guns in Skyfall, then showed up again after some repairs by Q at the end of Spectre to be driven off by 007 himself. With Bond 25 set to go into production soon, with Craig back as Bond one last time, there’s a good chance the iconic DB5 will be called into service again.
